BALASORE: In a tragic incident, the driver of a tea-laden container was charred to death as the vehicle caught fire after ramming into gate no 6 of Laxmannath toll plaza within Jaleswar police limits of Balasore district during the wee hours of Sunday.
Sources said the tea-laden truck was coming from Kolkata when the incident took place at National Highway-60 at around 2.15 am. The toll plaza staff present at the spot during the time of accident escaped narrowly. A computer inside the plaza was destroyed in the blaze.
On being informed, police and fire services personnel reached the spot and began investigation. Jaleswar IIC Ranjan Sethy said, as per preliminary investigation, since it was late in the night, the driver had likely dozed off to sleep while driving because of which the vehicle hit the toll plaza gate.
“Just as the crash took place, it triggered a fire and engulfed the vehicle. Within a few seconds, the vehicle was burnt to ashes and the driver charred to death,” the IIC said.
Subsequently, the owner of the vehicle was informed and a case registered in this connection.
“The identity of the driver is yet to be ascertained. His body was seized and sent to the local hospital for postmortem,” Sethy added.
Meanwhile owing to the incident, vehicular services were disrupted on both sides of the road of NH-60 for a few hours. Normal traffic was restored only at around 5 am after the ill-fated vehicle was lifted from the accident site.